Bernard Diederich (18 July 1926 – 14 January 2020) was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

-born author, journalist, and historian. Diederich was born into an Irish-German family in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, where his father was a barman at the Empire Hotel. The family moved to rural

Mākara Mākara is a locality located at the western edge of Wellington, New Zealand, close to the shore of the Tasman Sea. The suburb is named after the Mākara Stream (''mā'' is Māori for white, ''kara'' is a kind of greywacke stone). The Wellingt ...

, near Wellington, when he was 2, and he lived there until he was 16. In 2002 he wrote ''The Ghosts of Makara: Growing Up Down-Under in a Lost World of Yesteryears'' about his childhood. He attended Makara Primary School, then Marist Brothers' School in Thorndon and St Patrick's College for two years in the early 1940s, playing in the 1st XV rugby team and representing the school in boxing. Diederich left school aged 16 to become a shipping clerk to prepare to join the crew of the barque '' Pamir'', which left for San Francisco in early 1943. He was one of 12 boys in a crew of 40. He contributed to the ship's newsletter the ''Pamir Press''. Diederich studied in England in the early postwar years after having participated in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...

in the Pacific. In 1949, Diederich started a sailing trip with two friends that brought him to

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, a country that since stayed close to his heart. He stayed and settled down, while his partners continued their trip. In

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

, he founded and edited the '' Haiti Sun'', a weekly English newspaper about Haitian events. As a journalist he also became a freelance correspondent for the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

, ''

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'', and ''

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'' and others. In 1961 he covered the assassination of

Rafael Trujillo Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina ( ; ; 24 October 1891 – 30 May 1961), nicknamed ''El Jefe'' (; "the boss"), was a Dominican military officer and dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from August 1930 until Rafael Trujillo#Assassination, ...

in the neighboring

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. Two years later, after having displeased Haiti's dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, he was briefly imprisoned and expelled. In the Dominican Republic he established himself as a staff correspondent for

Time-Life Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and Direct marketing, direct ...

News. In 1966 Diederich moved to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

working for ''

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'' magazine covering Caribbean affairs. In 1981 the office was moved to

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, and he worked there until his retirement in 1989. The author continued to publish after retirement with the focus on the political and historical developments in the Caribbean, notably in Haiti. In 1954 Diederich met

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...

and the two became friends; later, as a result of their travel along the Haitian border Diederich wrote ''The Seeds of Fiction: Graham Greene's Adventures in Haiti and Central America 1954–1983'', while Greene published '' The Comedians''. Diederich published a detailed account of Trujillo's assassination in ''Trujillo: Death of the Goat'' in 1978. After

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...

published '' The Feast of the Goat'', a fictionalized novel about Trujillo's death, in 2000, Diederich accused Vargas Llosa of

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

. He died at his home in Frères, Port-au-Prince, on 14 January 2020, aged 93.

Awards

* 1976 Maria Moors Cabot Gold Medal,

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in New York * 1983

Overseas Press Club The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...

's Mary Hemingway citation for the best reporting from abroad * 2003 James Nelson Goodsell Award,

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

* 2003 Caonabo de Oro Award, Dominican Journalist Association

Books

* ''Trujillo: Death of the Goat'', 1978 * ''Somoza and the Legacy of U.S. Involvement in Central America'', 1981 * ''The Ghost of Makara: Growing Up Down-Under in a Lost World of Yesteryears'', 2002 * ''Papa Doc & The Tontons Macoutes'', (Al Burt, coauthor) 2006 * ''Bon Papa'', 2007 * ''The Prize: Haiti's National Palace'', 2007 * ''1959: The Year that Changed Our World'', 2007 * ''Bon Papa's Golden Years'', 2008 * ''The Price of Blood: History of Repression and Rebellion in Haiti Under Dr François Duvalier, 1957–1962'', 2011 * ''The Murderers Among Us: History of Repression and Rebellion in Haiti Under Dr. François Duvalier, 1962–1971'', 2011 * ''Seeds of Fiction: Graham Greene's Adventures in Haiti and Central America 1954–1983'', 2012, Peter Owen

External links

Bernard Diederich Collection

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diederich, Bernard 1926 births 2020 deaths New Zealand journalists New Zealand expatriates in the United States New Zealand expatriates in Haiti New Zealand writers New Zealand military personnel of World War II